84 IS IT GOING TO RAIN? 



has perished or been dissipated. The moon has suu- 

 Bhine enough, but no rain ; hence it is a dead world 

 a lifeless cinder. It is doubtless true that certain 

 of the planets, as Saturn and Jupiter, have not yet 

 reached the condition of the cooling and ameliorat- 

 ing rains, while in Mars vapor appears to be precipi 

 tated only in the form of snow ; he is probably past 

 the period of the summer shower. There are clouds 

 and vapors in the sun itself, clouds of flaming hy- 

 drogen and metallic vapors, and a rain every drop 

 of which is a burning or molten meteor. Our earth 

 itself has doubtless passed through the period of the 

 fiery and consuming rains. Mr. Proctor thinks there 

 may have been a time when its showers were down- 

 pourings of " muriatic, nitric, and sulphuric acid, not 

 only intensely hot, but fiercely burning through their 

 chemical activity." Think of a dew that would blis- 

 ter and destroy like the oil of vitriol ! but that period 

 Is far behind us now. "When this fearful fever was 

 past and the earth began to " sweat ; " when these 

 goft, delicious drops began to come down, or this im- 

 palpable rain of the cloudless nights to fall, the pe- 

 iod of organic life was inaugurated. Then there 

 was hope and a promise of the future. The first 

 rain was the turning-point, the spell was broken, re- 

 ;iof was at hand. Then the blazing furies of the fore 

 rorld began to give place to the gentler divinities of 

 later times. 



The first water, how much it means! Sever 

 tenths of man himself is water. Seven-tenths of the 



